whats the formula thats used to for pentatonic scale? aint it 1 3 4 5 7 ? for both minor and major or is it 1 2 3 5 6 for the major and 1 b3 4 5 b7 cuz i got fucking confused form this stupid book or is it right?

I'm only saying this because someone would say it to me, there is a search function on the site. On my little music theory thing on common exotic scales they are in there. Since I'm bored though. For minor pentatonic it would be as follows (formula) 1-b3-4-5-b7. . . That is if you are using (natural) major scale steps to define it rather than (natural) minor scale. If you use the (natural) minor scale steps to define the minor pentatonic then it would be 1-3-4-5-7(due to the fact that your 3rd and 7th are already dropped a half step because it is identified by the minor, not major, scale) For the pentatonic major the formula is 1-2-3-5-6. . . . no flats. . . FE: In the key of C major you are in relative A minor so with that being said the pentatonic would be A-C-D-E-G. Of course your major would be(in the same key) C-D-E-G-A. But say you use C minor pentatonic the flats show up much more accordingly(hence why C is used to identify so many things because altered steps show up a lot better) but then your minor pentatonic would be C-Eb-F-G-Bb. If they don't specify that they are using a minor scale to identify it or either add in the b's in the formula they are screwing you around a little bit. I wouldn't have written this much if I weren't bored. . . nevermind I'm always bored. Hope this helped rather than just being like everything else. . . all in vain.

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A Pentatonic scale is just a regular scale except u dont play the half notes. For Example A-Minor

5 6 7 8 9
|* - * *-|
|* *--*--|
|*--*----|
|*--*---*|
|*--*-*--|
|*--*-*--|

A-Minor Pentatonic

5 6 7 8 9
|*----*-|
|*----*-|
|*--*---|
|*--*---|
|*--*---|
|*----*-|

Play NO half notes.
hope that helps.
Do u know all the patterns for your scales?

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just for your info pentatonic is a 5 tone scale, unlike a normal 7 tone scale. so you only hit 5 notes until you reach an octave again.

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Pentatonic Major
1 2 3 5 6

Pentatonic Minor
1 m3 4 5 b7

As you can see the 2 is moved up one semitone to a m3, the 3 is moved up one semitone to a 4, and the 6 is moved up one semitone to a b7th.

Once you visualize this on the fretboard it gets much easier to remember. It's the basic "box" patterns. The CAGED chord progressions are based off of the C Pentatonic Major scale which is also the A Pentatonic Minor scale.

what do you mean by half notes?

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natural minor in A

A B C D E F G

pentatonic minor in A

A C D E G


See, the semi tones B, and F are pulled out in the pentatonic. I think he means you will play no semi tone intervals in the pentatonic scale.

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It's funny really.

Pent. minor can be played symmetrically.

T - - - 0 - - - -
U - - - 0 - 0 - -
N - - - 0 - - 0 -

T 0 - - 0 - - - -
U - 0 - 0 - - - -
N - - - 0 - - - -

HAHA!

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